Would a fixed have done this?
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: spike78
11-Aug-20
spike78's Link
Here is a video of Michael Waddell bouncing an arrow off a deer. Looks like a Deadmeat broadhead maybe on his arrow. Just curious if you guys think a fixed head may have had a different outcome?
From: Scar Finga
11-Aug-20
Sorry, but IMHO and experience... I say no way!!! I have shot through both shoulders on a deer! The shot was close 22 yards, and I was shooting 71lbs with a 570gr arrow with a Slick Trick 4 blade! Blew right through!! Crap is crap in my opinion and that's why I quit shooting mechanicals! They just don't work for me! Yes the broadhead was destroyed, but the deer went 8 yards and folded up!
If they work for you that's fine, I don't care! So don't get all ruffled up and start blazing away! LOL!
From: Jaquomo
11-Aug-20
Shoot and release! The ultimate sportsman!
From: JSW
11-Aug-20
I wonder if he still shoots those heads. I'm not going to pile on but that is incredibly bad performance. A solid cut on impact head would have killed that buck, even with a 35# longbow.
From: Twinetickler
11-Aug-20
Waddell came out to Utah on a "DIY" mule deer hunt a couple years ago. That hunt showed him on TV following a guide around like a lost puppy and sleeping in a 12000 square foot lodge with gourmet meals made for him daily haha. The only DIY part of his hunt was possibly wiping his own ass....maybe. If G5 wasn't writing his paycheck I would bet he would be shooting a Slicktrick or Ramcat. Did he even follow up on that buck? He was acting somewhat hurt. I liked him when he first started, now he is like every other celebrity super star. SAD
From: WV Mountaineer
11-Aug-20
Gheez man, jealous much?
From: Shuteye
11-Aug-20
Never tried those broadheads but killed number 72 with Jak Hammers last year. Normally shoot all the way through with a Hoyt or Mathews bow. Now using a Ravin and at 340 FPS the bolts always get a complete pass through. Killed a bunch more with Bear Razor heads until I switched to Mechanical heads. Never bounced an arrow off a deer but there is a first time for everything. Also I have never had a Jak Hammer not open and do it's job. They shoot exactly like my 100 grain target points. I replace the blades after every kill but can't find the bolts now.
From: Twinetickler
11-Aug-20
Not at all, just call it how I see it. I dont think he's a bad guy, but don't like the direction he has gone.
From: stringgunner
11-Aug-20
Maybe it was because it was a Hoyt? Lol
From: Grey Ghost
11-Aug-20
Yes. Been there done that. Not going back.
Matt
From: Ermine
12-Aug-20
I think a fixed blade would have not done that. Fixed blade would have penetrated and dead deer
From: APauls
12-Aug-20
I think a lot of heads would have fared better. Like a flip over mech as well. That being said, fixed heads have been riding ribs Long before mechs were invented. But that angle didn’t look too severe. Something like a rocket steelhead also would have punched through I believe. I’ve tested them on angles much steeper than that without adverse effect
From: Bou'bound
13-Aug-20
fixed blade would have killed the deer.
we probably see more kills on those shows with mechanicals (which most of them shoot) than if they were using fixed though. The mechanicals do more damage on marginal hits and will lead to more recoveries, over time, than fixed.
it's a numbers game since nothing is going to be the best answer for every instance. what is the best option for the majority of instances. the average guy, shooting on smaller bodied game (below elk) is probably going to kill more with a mechanical because the average guy is going to be outside of the vital zone more often.
From: HDE
13-Aug-20
Arrow didn't just "bounce off". If the angle was right and the first thing the arrow hit was a rib, yes, it's possile the right fixed could do that as well.
From: BTM
13-Aug-20
Surprised that incident didn't end up on the cutting-room floor. Sponsor couldn't have been happy.
From: Glunker
13-Aug-20
Looking at the video link ohiobowhunter posted, it appears when th he recover the "flame or fire bull" that there is a 3rd arrow hole on the elbow. Raises questions for me. Also curious how far he was shooting as I have never had an elk flinch that much on a shot. Hope the meat was edible.
From: olebuck
13-Aug-20
We always talk about broadheads - but the arrow is probably more at fault. - but im just guessing he was using a light 8- GPI arrow with a 100 grain broad head.. a 485 grain arrow is the Minimum i recommend for whitetails....
From: JohnMC
13-Aug-20
All I know is if I ever start wearing a flat brim with my ears tucked inside it. I am shaving my head except for a 8'' rat tail!
From: Beachtree
13-Aug-20
They need to drink some ranch fairy Kool aid maybe they can learn something.
From: nchunter
13-Aug-20
I saw the whole video and I believe the deer was seen a day or two later with about a 6 slash on it lower side.
From: butcherboy
13-Aug-20
Anything at the right angle can glance off or bounce off, even bullets. It looks to me like the broadhead did enter the deer but was stopped and then it came out. The buck had a big gash from the trail camera picture a few days later. Broadhead probably opened but it was stopped by a rib bone at the right angle.
As for the “fire bull” incident. There is a whole lot of stuff just wrong on that one.
From: WapitiBob
13-Aug-20
I shot an Antelope Buck at about 75 yards, broadside, with a 25-06 and the bullet hit a rib, followed the rib down, across the brisket, and up a rib on the opposite side, and was laying between the hide and muscle. It was about the dia of a dime and about as thick. You could follow the path from entry until it stopped. Weird stuff can happen.
From: Bake
13-Aug-20
I had that same thing happen with a .338 Winchester. . . Quarter away bushbuck at 80 yards. Skipped along his ribs and broke his shoulder. Bullet never entered the body cavity.
Luckily, a piece of shoulder bone penetrated the cavity and put him down.
From: Grey Ghost
13-Aug-20
I had a little different experience with an antelope I killed with a mechanical. Slightly quartering away shot angle. The arrow hit my mark, and should have blown straight thru his ribs. Instead, as soon as the arrow struck the bucks body, it did a hard 90 degree deflection into his guts. It still killed him, but that was the last time I ever used a mechanical.
Matt
From: greg simon
13-Aug-20
I give Michael Waddell credit where it is due, he owned that shot. He did not edit it out to make himself look better. It looked like maybe the arrow had some fishtail to it and hit almost parallel to the deer's body. Maybe his string hit his arm or something.
From: Griz34
14-Aug-20
I will say that it is less likely to happen with a fixed blade, but it can and does happen. In the early nineties I shot a buck with a thunderhead. Pretty much the same thing happened. The arrow hit him in the chest and he fell over then got up ran into a tree and ran off. I figured dead deer, nope. When I got down and checked the tip had broken and all four blades fell out. The arrow never penetrated the deer and I never found a drop of blood. I doubt this would happen with most modern broad heads, just saying it can happen with a fixed blade head.
From: Too many bows Bob
14-Aug-20
For all your pent up anger guys, look closely at the video. It looks to me like he hit the deer right on the joint, solid bone that not much short of a 30-06 is going to get through. I've had it happen. TMBB
From: midwest
14-Aug-20
If something weird happens with a fixed blade, it's because something weird happened and you may switch to a different style of fixed blade.
If something weird happens with a mechanical, it's because it was a mechanical and you must immediately switch to a fixed blade.
;-)
From: Smtn10PT
14-Aug-20
Would a fixed blade have been more likely to kill that deer? I would say yes. On the other hand I have lost an animal with a fixed blade head that a mechanical may have produced a better result. Bottom line is don't celebrate until you put you hands on them.
From: spike78
14-Aug-20
Bob, later in the video it showed the buck with a slice down its ribs so it looked like he hit ribs and not a joint but I could be wrong. I’m surprised he showed the video since he is sponsored by the broadhead company.
From: Matt
16-Aug-20
"Bob, later in the video it showed the buck with a slice down its ribs so it looked like he hit ribs and not a joint but I could be wrong. I’m surprised he showed the video since he is sponsored by the broadhead company."
This. The slice was not front to back on a quartering away deer.
From: Ambush
16-Aug-20
The only sure thing is:
If it’s a fixed head, it was the archer and “... it happens to everyone eventually..”
If it’s a mech, then it is absolutely the broadhead and the archer is an idiot that can’t tune.
From: Pete-pec
16-Aug-20
Ironic that mechanicals are called mechanicals, when in fact, an ultra-sharp cut on contact head with a longer less steep slope from the tip to the insert offers the most "mechanical advantage" in the overall performance of a broadhead. It was said already, but arrow weight is also not questioned. He's a hell of a shot, but sad that a rib makes a good shot fail so terribly.
I needed a blood tracker two years ago. Rage broadhead into the very edge of the shoulder blade. Single lung entrance, and exited the gut. The blood tracker was pleased that I had such a large hole to help his Teckel, but I was disappointed at the performance of the broadhead. I switched at that point, knowing that things don't go as planned, and what broadhead offers the best performance when a deer moves, or you hit bone? I think it's likely fixed, and I owe it to my quarry to consider that. I'll shoot fixed from here forward, and yes, the perfect shot, a mechanical works, and I killed plenty with them....and plenty with fixed as well.
From: Archbull
16-Aug-20
I watched a guy do the same exact thing with a Rage Broadhead on an elk. He thinks that one of the blades deployed early on a rib and and caused it to deflect. I'm not a fan of Mechanical Broadheads but I could see a fixed head maybe doing the same thing on severe angle shots. Just a lucky day for that buck!
From: TD
17-Aug-20
Like many things in life...... bowhunting can be a game of inches......
From: master guide
18-Aug-20
I saw the Waddell shot, and Levi bounce one off a bull Elk, then McMillans hunter bounce one off a big Whitetail , And I had a Elk hunting client / 80lbs Brand X broadhead get 3 inches of peneteration at 40 yards , no recovery, then found two different hunters trailing bulls shot with Rage,no recovery Now this is getting a little off track, but most if not all of these Bucks and bulls would have been recovered with a Cut on contact head. Guess a lot of this goes back to money, if your being paid up to 50,000.dollars to use brand X,bad things are going to happen.
